Hiring of expert in state energy policy ends standoff between nonprofit’s former executive director and staff

High-profile consumer advocate Michael Shames is out as executive director of the Utility Consumers’ Action Network, a nonprofit group that has challenged investor-owned companies like San Diego Gas & Electric Co. for nearly 30 years.

The utility watchdog agency announced this week that Kim Malcolm is taking over the organization, ending a tense standoff between Shames and his staff that nearly shut down the agency.

Malcolm, who started her new job Friday, is a career expert in state energy policy who once served as chief of staff to the president of the California Public Utilities Commission.

Most recently, Malcolm served as executive director of Community Energy Services Corp., a Berkeley nonprofit that delivers energy, environmental and home-repair services to residents and business owners.

Shames, who will remain with UCAN in a reduced role, posted a note on his Facebook page praising the decision to hire Malcolm and celebrating his new position.

“Today I get my long-delayed freedom from the UCAN ED position and we’ve got a top-notch person to take my place,” he wrote. “Kim Malcolm was my first (and, frankly only) choice to take over the reins of UCAN.”

Later, Shames wrote: “I’ll still have SDG&E in my sights, but some percolating projects will finally get my attention.”

Board Chairman Kendall Squires said the agreement and new leadership bode well for San Diego utility consumers.

“All concerned have worked to effect the settlement,” he said. “It’s a great deal. It serves the community by allowing UCAN to move forward in its continued representation of San Diego ratepayers.”

UCAN officials filed a dissolution petition in San Diego Superior Court earlier this year after employees complained that Shames maintained secret bank accounts, laundered donations and practiced law without an active state bar membership, among other things. Shames called all the allegations meritless.

At the time, the agency also disclosed it was the subject of an FBI inquiry. Squires said UCAN has cooperated with federal investigators examining the nonprofit’s books and holdings.

According to Squires, the executive director is the only charity official who will have access to donations made to the organization and to the group’s bank accounts.

Shames had been permitted access to UCAN checkbooks and bank accounts for months after the allegations surfaced.

The judge in the dissolution case is expected to accept or reject the agreement at a hearing next month.

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, the longtime sister organization to UCAN that incorporated on its own amid the UCAN turmoil earlier this year, will persist as an independent nonprofit.

One key question that has not been made public is how the remaining UCAN assets — estimated in one court proceeding earlier this year at $2 million or more — would be divided.